Astralis Wins FACEIT Major London, Device Bags MVP Award

Posted 24th September 2018 By: Derpina&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp4 Views

Esports News – Team Astralis has once again proven themselves to be the best in the world at the FACEIT Major London 2018. After beating Na’Vi in a 2-0 series, Astralis is now the third team to ever win multiple CSGO Majors, following Fnatic and Made from Brazil (MiBR). This new title tops their E-League Atlanta 2017 Major last year.

Tournament recap

The battle for the Major started out on Astralis’ map pick, Nuke. Natus Vincere started the game on the front foot as they took the first 3 consecutive rounds with the help of Egor “flamie” Vasilyev. A few heartbeats after, Astralis came back and took 9 rounds in a row. Na’vi tried to salvage what’s left of their momentum, but Astralis closed half the game by ending the last 3 rounds 11-4.

Na’Vi kept reviving the game with a team ace in the pistol round, but after losing to a force buy, they responded in the same style. Astralis’ Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander’s timely smoke grenade delayed Na’Vi’s plan to plant a bomb. The second half of the game went back and forth until Astralis eventually claimed Nuke for themselves in a 16-6 victory.

Na’Vi’s map pick, Overpass, is the same map where Astralis had lost their last game against Na’Vi back at ESL One Cologne. Obviously, the outcome is completely different this time. Astralis took the first 4 rounds aggressively, while Na’Vi managed to bounce back on the two traded rounds to score. They tried to win the third round, but Astralis destroyed most of their cache.

After getting their economy back, Na’Vi took hold of the game and equalized the tally at 5-5 without needing AWPs to back them up. A series of mistakes turn the tide around, and the game went back in Astralis’ favor. The winning team picked up where they had left off and stormed the B site to win the pistol round without losing a single member of the team.

FACEIT major MVP

Astralis’ top player Nicolai “device” Reedtz is the winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award given by HLTV.org and Betway. His greatest performances were his team’s victories against Vega Squadron (1.88 rating) and MiBR (2.19 rating) at the New Legends and Champions stages. This is device’s eight MVP award in his entire career, and the third this season after winning ECS Season 5 Finals and ELEAGUE premier.